The connection between
Johann Sebastian Bach and Sylvius Leopold Weiss goes beyond
their having virtually identical dates. The two men were friends
and in his young adulthood, Bach admired the more famous Weiss
very much and in my opinion wrote much of his music, if not
for Weiss, at least with Weiss or someone like him in
mind.

Weiss was the Paganini
of his day, his virtuosity amazed and overwhelmed listeners
and challenged composers. Bach re-wrote much of his music, probably
more than we are aware of because we only have a small number
of surviving manuscripts of earlier versions. As a young man,
Bach would expect to hear his music played by lutenists and
clavichordists, but as these instruments fell out of favor,
he could see that this was less and less likely, so he rewrote
pieces to make them more suitable for harpsichord, and finally
fortepiano, performance. After poring through some German essays
on the subject, I am convinced Bach probably did not play the
lute himself, but was interested in achieving lute sonority
on harpsichords, and had at least one such “lute-harpsichord*”
in his possession when he died. Recently there have been recordings
of the first book of the Well Tempered Klavier which
used clavichord, harpsichord, organ, and fortepiano for the
various preludes and fugues, but my feeling is that one should
also include some performances on the lute as well. By the time
of the second volume, it is my opinion that this is a fortepiano
work, and that explains why Bach rewrote many of the earlier
pieces for inclusion therein, not to make them “better” but
to make them more suitable for performance on the fortepiano.
Professor Richard Jones particularly needs to study this point.
When Weiss died in the same year as Bach, the lute as a solo
virtuoso instrument virtually died with him.

Bach wrote an astonishing
quantity of the finest preludes and fugues ever done but he
also wrote dance pieces for his keyboard suites and his works
for solo instrument. Most Bach enthusiasts pay very little attention
to these dance pieces, but what is interesting is that Weiss’
pieces in similar forms are very similar in style to Bach’s
and heard on the lute they are delightful. Performance of these
smaller works of Bach on the lute would probably make them much
more comprehensible, and in fact we have just such an instance
with Paul Galbraith’s performance of the Sonatas And Partitas
for solo violin on his six string guitar. It is the smaller
dance pieces which gain most from this arrangement — indeed
they become interesting enough to be listened to all by themselves.
And that is what we hear on this recording listening to similar
dances by Weiss.

A recent biography of Bach
by Martin Geck enlarges the spotlight, giving much information
about the surrounding circumstances in which Bach lived, deepening
our understand of Bach as a man who lived in a culture and reacted
to it. Another crippling legacy of Victorian musicology falls;
instead of seeing all the musicians around Bach as mere imitators,
and hence safely to be ignored, we see instead that they formed
a musical culture in which Bach was immersed and with which
he interacted profitably. A familiarity with Weiss, who spent
his professional life at Dresden, 60 miles from Leipzig, is
valuable to an understanding of Bach. For a long time this has
been all but impossible as the music of Weiss was unknown and
unplayed, presumed lost; but now we have this excellent series.

Recording perspective on
Volume 6 is closer than on Volume 2 and finger slide noises
are more evident. The introduzione to Sonata No.45 has
a fugato section that is somewhat reminiscent of Handel’s “Harmonious
Blacksmith” followed by a very Bachian courante. The
sprightly bourrée is more syncopated than most Bach.
The sarabande is appropriately stately, touching but
not sad. The menuet is, again, sprightly with musical
leaps not usually heard in a menuet. The presto
is just that, but not a fugue as it would be with Bach,
but rather reminiscent of the allegro from Bach’s BWV
998, a lute work, likely influenced by Weiss. If someone told
you this movement was by Bach — unusually playful Bach to be
sure — you would have no reason to doubt it.

The suites are apparently
numbered in order of composition, so following No.45, a late
work, we come to No.7, a much earlier work, beginning not with
a prelude or an introduzione, but directly with a stately and
thoughtful allemande, followed by a fast and rather Bachian
(but not fugal) courante. The gavotte is graceful,
with typical leaps, the sarabande particularly lovely
and affecting. The menuet is dramatic, the gigue
is as rollicking and Bachian as it can get without being a fugue.
Altogether this earlier work keeps its unique personality but
is not in any sense lacking in quality. Suite No.23, a work
from the middle years, begins with a arpeggiated chordal prelude
which leads at once into an entrée, an embellished aria;
and on with the usual set of dances, finishing with a swinging
saltarella — which could pass for a hornpipe — and is
probably the most interesting work on the disk, showing Barto’s
skill in saving the best for last, which is also true of Volume
2, the last movement on which is possibly my single favorite
work by Weiss.

Throughout Mr. Barto plays
with lyricism, rhythmic integrity, expression, sweetness of
tone and clarity of voice — that is, amazing skill. Overall
he’s every bit as good as Lindberg, perhaps with a little more
drama and softness, whereas Lindberg pushes the limit on dexterity
and precision. I think I like Barto’s lute, which has many of
the qualities of an alto guitar, more than Lindberg’s lute which
tends to “run out of breath”, but that could have more to do
with the recording engineer.

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